mkf. At the beginning of Advent, when the first stars began to arrive (just like six years ago, there were never as many stars as this year), someone asked; “What will happen when thousands and thousands of people flood the Original Shrine on Christmas Eve? What miracle should we expect?” The stars continued to arrive, each one of which is a demonstration of faith, of confidence, and of an incredible attachment to this small Shrine. So many arrived that for the first time it was impossible to print all of them, but there was still the possibility of taking them (to the Shrine) by saving them on a USB…In the digital era this is as real as sheets of paper.
As of December 24th approximately 50,000 or more names arrived in the more than 3,000 emails sent via the website and twenty of them via snail mail from continents allover the world. And they are still arriving…
On the afternoon of December 24th, these stars were presented in the Original Shrine…it was not an easy task since there was and there truly still is a “White Christmas” in Schoenstatt. For the first time in many years, all of Schoenstatt was covered with a blanket of new snow on Christmas Eve. It was a very beautiful landscape, except that it was almost impossible to drive… So this included a pilgrimage on foot from Mount Schoenstatt to the Original Shrine coming and going!
With complete confidence in the work of the Blessed Mother
Blessed Mother, be careful, an invasion is coming…Blessed Mother, take care of your Shrine, it is going to explode with all this affection, this giving of self, this confidence that desires a miracle from you and from your Son…Child of God, save our marriage…Blessed Mother, may my father who died today rest in peace…Give me the strength to accept the cancer that destroys my body, and be a mother to my small children…I want to be in the Original Shrine on October 18, 2014…We wish that this star would be sent to the manger where our God Child was born…I ask that you help me to re-initiate my mission with the Blessed Mother, with all the strength and dynamism that She deserves…
In this way the Holy Father, several leaders (“Zapatero, May God enlighten you and may he touch your heart”), and priests were taken to the manger… There is a wooden star for each one of the collaborators of this website, and there is a star with the name of Father Horacio Rivas.
The first step of a miracle desired for many generations…
All the stars were presented with complete simplicity, but with an awareness of this moment of grace by being a part of the large pilgrimage of the entire Family toward October 18, 2014…
What miracle should we expect? No one knows. Nor do we know which of all the potential miracles placed on the stars is the greatest.
But we are grateful at this time for the news published a few hours before: As of January 1, 2012, the Schoenstatt Movement will have the usufruct (use) of the Original Shrine along with the pilgrims’ square and the sacristy of the house in front of the Shrine (St. Marien). This agreement constitutes the first step on the road to a prompt and complete clarification of the relationship concerning the Original Shrine and the Schoenstatt Valley.
This is the first step of a miracle that generations of Schoenstatters have desired for many decades…it is a miracle for which hundreds of Schoenstatters offered their lives…and it is at a point of becoming a reality in the Year of the Shrine Current.
Thousands of people were present and united in the Original Shrine
At midnight, the stars were also taken to the Midnight Mass at the Adoration Church, and they were placed on the carpet at Father’s tomb.
“Thank you for keeping this attachment to the Original Shrine alive! From these remote and small places in which we feel that the world is too large to be connected, thanks to the work of thousands of Schoenstatters attached to this website; we are united and we are present spiritually in the Shrine,” wrote Clara Herbón, from Villa La Angostura, Argentina, and Silvia, from Buenos Aires summarizes it in one phrase: “How exciting it is to know that our names, our affection is there in that holy place to which we will always remain loyal in our smallness.”
> Video of the presentation of the stars: www.schoenstatt-tv.de
Translation: Celina Garza, San Antonio/Melissa Janknegt, Elgin, USA
